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a long term investment

Randall’s Island Park Hell Gate Wildflower Meadow

Can plants and people coexist in urban areas? Dr. Amy Hahs of the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology thinks so… “we just need to consider vegetation as a long-term investment rather than as a disposable asset.” New York City has lost 40% of its native plants. NYC has more than 53,000 acres of open space. Of the 1357 plant species that once existed in New York City, only 771 can still be found. The reasons: human- activities related to habitat destruction and disease. Below are twelve plants that have disappeared. This list was put together by Marielle Anzelone, who is the one-woman “organization” behind NYC Wildflower Week and the unrealized Pop-Up Forest for Times Square.

ASCLEPIAS VARIEGATA (White Milkweed)

HELONIAS BULLATA (Swamp Pink)

GENTIANA SAPONARIA (Soapwort Gentian)

DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA (Round-leaved Sundew)

TRILLIUM GRANDIFLORUM (Large-Flowered Trillium)

CYPRIPEDIUM PARVIFLORUM (Small Yellow Lady’s Slipper)

CORNUS CANADENSIS (Bunchberry)

ZOSTRA MARINA (Eelgrass)

CHEILANTHES LANOSA (Hairy Lip Fern)

SYMPHYOTRICHUM CONCOLOR (Eastern Silvery Aster)

EPIGAEA REPENS (Trailing Arbutus)

SABATICA ANGULARIS (Rose Pink)

If you enjoy being a citizen scientist, inaturalist is a really good site. And to toot my own horn, a bit; Randall’s Island Park Alliance participates in New York City Wildflower Week, so if you are around, sign up and take a tour of our Wildflower Meadow or contact us directly through our website ; we can organize individual tours on other days besides Wildflower Week. .

Bee Hotel in Wildflower Meadow on Randall’s Island. These bee hotels are exclusively by solitary bees, whose nesting habits require a different size diameter hole for each different species of solitary bee.